Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I'm still...I dunno what to make of this yet. If it turns out more like "Civil War" (which is the feeling they're shooting for), I'll be impressed. If it goes more the way of, say, "Heroes Reborn", we may have an indication of "event burnout".

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Before anyone even asks, I’ll get this out of the way right now: NO, I’m not providing links to download it. It’s out there. Go find it yourself.

Now then, a story.

In 2001, David Bowie had the idea to re-record several of his songs after playing them on tour the prior two years. Those songs, coupled with a few other covers and newer material, were recorded and prepared for release. To maybe give you an idea of what this would be like, break out the version of “Rebel Rebel” found on Reality.

However, Bowie’s label, Virgin Records, didn’t like the idea - mainly because they didn’t have the rights to a lot of the songs that comprised the album. Bowie went as far as to try and release the record on his own label, but it never happened.

Ten years later, Toy has seen the light of day. Not officially, mind you; the album has never been let go by either Virgin or Bowie himself. Nonetheless, it’s been leaked online now to be found by Bowie fans smart enough to know where to troll.

And there are quite a few. In fact, they are legion. And they have been starved since 2003; that’s when Bowie’s last album, Reality, came out. Since then he’s taken an indefinite hiatus from recording to do...whatever. Paint. Sculpt. Be a dad. Other stuff. None of it recording.

That said, it’s understandable why this would be a prize. It’s unknown if - much less when - we may hear a new Bowie album. In light of that, we now have Toy (although we shouldn’t). And yes, there will be a review of it soon. Probably right here.

As for how it got out there...who the hell knows? There have been “dream” versions put together by fans comprised of live outtakes, versions of songs that appeared elsewhere (such as “Uncle Floyd” and “Afraid”, both also on Heathen), and other bootlegged tracks that made it sound like just that. What’s out there now, however, is the real deal.

There are several things that could have happened. Someone could have been sitting on it, inadvertently left their computer open to a file-sharing service and had it jacked. Someone could have timed this to be out there now. Hell, Bowie himself could have been sick of being asked about it and quietly put the subject to rest by letting people hear it (although he swears a proper release is coming one of these days).

For now, however, it’s out there. And, by now, probably not that hard to find.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Spider-Man had two great things happen to him in the same day this past Thursday. First, a copy of “Amazing Fantasy” #15 sold for $1.1 million - damn-near unheard of for a comic book as young as 1962 and a testament in and of itself to how popular the character is.

Reinforcing the love story between Peter Parker and Mary-Jane - a no-brainer

Ditching a musical number called “Deeply Furious”, which reportedly sucked out loud

Reworking the involvement of the Green Goblin - who was slated to die in Act I and inexplicably show up again in Act II - and making the way for him to be the main villain (again, duh), because

Arachne, the eight-legged villainess Taymor created for this mess, will be pretty much written out of the story.

After nine years (wow, has it been THAT long??) of work on this thing, it might - might - finally be headed in the right direction. I’m still not convinced this show is a good idea in the first place, but at least now the curse of the egotistical director who refused to let anything get in the way of her vision - even common sense and any respect for what makes this character special in the first place - has been lifted.

The official story is that she stepped aside of her own free will. Behind the scenes, however, word is she refused to listen to anyone about making changes to the show after the recent critical drubbing it took. Not accepting input from the cast (who even seemed to know more than her in this instance) is one thing, but refusing to make changes even after her bosses - the producers of the show - told her to? Even after Bono and The Edge told her to? Honey, that’s just suicidal. After the money they’ve put in to this thing and with their reputations on the line, you’d best believe Bono and The Edge would have a little say. And probably more than a little stroke, since they’re, you know...half of U2 and all.

Taymor may have made The Lion King a huge success, but her resulting ego and artsier-than-thou aesthetic (she made the movies Across the Universe, Frida, and Titus, among others) were less-than-conducive to a mainstream big-budget spectacle involving super heroes - something she obviously knows nothing about. Hopefully, she learned lessons in both artistic and egotistical restraint.

Hopefully, Broadway producers everywhere learned a lesson, as well: never trust a woman named “Julie”.

This is entirely too cool for words. For one, this is a movie that had a HUGE impact on me as a teenager and that I’ve loved ever since. Second, this is also more proof that the nerds are taking over the world - if we haven’t already.

I fear some interpret the attention that Sheen's receiving as popularity. When people gawk at a car crash it's not out of popularity.

2) Even if I could muster up something, it wouldn't be nearly as good as what's below, which comes courtesy of the criminally underrated and ultra-talented Rappy McRapperson. So, Charlie, this one's for you:

Friday, March 4, 2011

Honestly, the disconnect between how good you think something like this might be and how good it actually is will blow your mind. I already dug Random's stuff, but this would have made me a fan if I wasn't.

No, you read that right. They’re franchising. Blade Runner. Now I can get in to what I was saying...

People don’t understand the appeal behind a movie like Blade Runner - or even The Crow or any sci-fi/fantasy movie that audiences loved and Hollywood assclowns see dollar signs around in association with a cult following - isn’t that this is cool universe to play in or all the story possibilities. The stories themselves were more allegories on the human condition. Especially with Blade Runner, which was a philosophical pondering on human morality and mortality based on a story by Phillip K Dick that was very much more of the same. It just so happened that Ridley Scott made that setting work visually, and Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, and a ton of others made it work in many other ways.

All of that gets lost, it seems, in the never-ending battle of commerce vs. art. Fans see a great film, Hollywood sees an opportunity for further exploitation. And talk about the wrong avenue to pursue...a Holy Grail like Blade Runner?

The justification for this is well-nigh priceless. Johnson and Kosove stated that—get this:

We recognize the responsibility we have to do justice to the memory of the original with any prequel or sequel we produce. We have long-term goals for the franchise, and are exploring multi-platform concepts, not just limiting ourselves to one medium only.

First of all, if you guys “recognized the responsibility you have to do justice to the memory the original,” you’d realize this entire thing is a bad idea and forget about it. This Blog post wouldn’t exist because neither would this announcement that you two plan on carrying this blasphemy out.

Secondly, you’re “not just limiting yourselves to one medium only”? Because that worked so well for Highlander. And do we even have to discuss the atrocities done in the name of The Crow? Stairway To Heaven, anyone? These are the footsteps you two follow in.

Do you think Roy Batty would have given that heartfelt monologue about life if he knew this announcement would be the result of it?

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Going off the beaten path for a minute, I just found out about this today. Although, if you pay close attention to the “Good Company” links at the right, this shouldn’t be entirely unexpected.

This. Is exactly why. I haven’t bothered with TNA Impact. In months.

There’s really no more that needs to be said. But of course that’s never stopped me.

First, for the uninitiated, this is where this idea came from:

WWE plays a mysterious hype video. Everybody freaks out, thinking it might be Sting (including me). Another hype video makes it clear it’s not Sting. Hopes are dashed. Third video, WWE announces the return of the Undertaker (second video above). TNA gets cute and brags that they actually did sign Sting (first video above, past the other ridiculousness). World yawns.

Blatant rip-off aside, TNA simply doesn’t get it. Fans freaking about Sting’s appearance was because we thought he might be showing up in WWE. For a dream match against the Undertaker. That we’ve waited. Decades. For. To let everyone know via unoriginal and spiteful carbon copy video that match is being denied us is just a slap in the face. I understand any publicity is good publicity, and that seems to be TNA’s goal here (I think). The problem is, it will probably mean the square root of diddly/squat at the end of the day.

Show of hands - how many people reading that aren’t dyed-in-the-wool wrestling fans that still remember Sting from back in the day knew he was still wrestling? Right. The interest in him showing back up in TNA - where he’s been for several years now - is about as interesting as watching some chick from the Jersey Shore wrestle. Oh, wait, that’s gonna happen, too.

Mission Statement

Count3rCu1ture is my corner of the internet. Stuff I like and care about, for good or ill. No longer running the rat race or trying to be the next (pre-filmmaker) Cameron Crowe. Nowadays, I'd rather be like Hunter Thompson in his later years, reflecting on the run I had while occasionally shooting my mouth off about what's in the news. Or what should be.